CHMP recommends approval of Equidacent as biosimilar for Avastin in a range of cancers.- Centus Biotherapeutics

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion, recommending the granting of a marketing authorisation for the medicinal product Equidacent (bevacizumab biosimilar), from Centus Biotherapeutics Europe, intended for the treatment of carcinoma of the colon or rectum, breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell cancer, epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer, and carcinoma of the cervix. Equidacent will be available as 25 mg/ml concentrate for solution for infusion.

The active substance of Equidacent is bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody (ATC code: L01XC07) which binds to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), the key driver of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, thereby inhibiting the binding of VEGF to its receptors on endothelial cells. Neutralising the biological activity of VEGF regresses the vascularisation of tumours, normalises remaining tumour vasculature, and inhibits the formation of new tumour vasculature, thereby inhibiting tumour growth. Equidacent is a biosimilar medicinal product. It is highly similar to the reference product Avastin (bevacizumab), which was authorised in the EU on 12 January 2005. Data show that Equidacent has comparable quality, safety and efficacy to Avastin.